Building an Off Center Fed Vertical Dipole Antenna

[@TheREALJosephTurner]

Can't wait for the antenna book!

[@dirigoelectric]

Nice! I passed my tech test 30 minutes ago! Now onto general and soon to be on air when I hit the database! Newport Maine

[@COASTALWAVESWIRES]

@@dirigoelectric awesome!!!!! Congrats!!!!!

[@dirigoelectric]

@ thank you I’ve gotten a lot of help from your channel and it’s nice to meet people who are supportive in new people learning the skill

[@redstickham6394]

Way to go!

[@ae1tpa92gwtom2]

Cheers n welcome to the club!!!

[@ae1tpa92gwtom2]

That guy is nothing but pure QRM, he has disrupted several of my qso's while remote .. looks like another successful day out, cheers from Bulgaria

[@67taylor94]

I could not agree more on tvz! The guy is a tool and loves to annoy people. You are a class act and really enjoying your videos!

[@COASTALWAVESWIRES]

Roger that! And thank you very much!

[@johnorrells3797]

Yes I've come across that nutter

[@TrevHolland]

When CB operators get a ham license. haha

[@bland-b7e]

I refuse to answer his calls on POTA even though he plays nicey nice on POTA.

[@ehsnils]

I have heard him in Sweden even.

[@paulKJ5GKK]

This was FUN! I love your contact with KB9VBR. I hope to get you in my log one day. This is an antenna I've got to build. Thanks Walt! 73

[@bobr6555]

Great to watch two contacts between the only two hams I watch regularly on KZbin!

[@TrevHolland]

Love seeing some cross-KZbinr action with KB9VBR! Great video, Walt! I always appreciate how you show up with an idea for an antenna and you make it work! Very awesome.

[@markviers998]

Great afternoon with that antenna, and very cool to push it into service on 15.

[@JS-oq2cd]

Just built one of these this morning and had a few minutes to tune around with my G90. Tunes 10, 12, 15, and 20 nicely. 15 looks to be maybe the most usable as it was quite busy with today"s contest. Looking forward to having some time to operate with this antenna. Nice work Walt. I'd certainly encourage you to hang in on 10 even after sunset. You might make some Pacific contacts. Have occasionally heard JA lately and also heard Vanuatu a couple weeks ago.

[@derwerd]

Love to watch your videos Walt! Thanks.

[@ki5tgk]

Went out this morning and set-up the 20.5 ft, 6 counterpoise, and my g90 and it rocked. Prayers to you and your better half

[@ke8mattj]

Pretty cool that you go Mike (KB9VBR)

[@kandkmotorsports]

yes, we do know that guy.....ty walt!

[@dandypoint]

Excellent antenna. An off center fed dipole works as good as a center fed dipole. If the dipole is a halfwave long it presents a pure resistive load ( or at least very close to pure resistance) to the coax. That is true regardless of the feed point. There are formulas to calculate pretty accurately what the impedance change is for feeding off center. So you can do it for any convenient transformer ratio and get a good match without a tuner if the feed point is right. To me an SWR of 1.7 is nearly perfect, so precision is not required. One other note, somewhat related, for my HF dipoles ( almost all I ever use now at home) I usually feed in the center but when trimming to exact frequency I never worry about having both legs the same length. As long as the SWR is good enough for me, all is well. On 80 meters a dipole will not cover the complete band, so I change resonant frequency from CW to SSB by only lowering one side and changing the length of that side. I use WAGO lever wire nuts to make it quick and easy to change lengths.

[@COASTALWAVESWIRES]

Great stuff, thanks for commenting! 73, Walt

[@F4LDT-Alain]

Hey Walt thanks for yet another idea for an antenna to try. The fact that it tunes rather easily for 12m sure is a plus. I wonder how it does in terms of efficiency on the 10m band compared to a regular dipole of end-fed half-wave. Yesterday afternoon the 10m band was really good here too, worked my first ZS station just over the grey line with 50 watts and a vertical dipole. Best 73s my friend.

[@robertmeyer4744]

Very good Walt ! Michal was a great contact on 2 bands ! The dipole antenna works the same no matter where you feed it. It just changes feed point impedance . I find off set center hard to tune and are prone to common mode current but some easy fix for that. G90 got that tuned. I tried with a UNUN at first . could not get SWR down then used Balun and got it to work. I was using the outher style of off set center, 70% to 25% or 3/4 to 1/4 of 1/2 wave total. Just the feed point closer to bottom , Getting that feed point coax 90 deg from antenna was a challenge . I was using a park bench wooden to hold up 10 meter pole. I used the 7 meter pole to hold up coax. was a lot of work but it did work good and I did get a tune under 1.5 SWR with a lot of work. Like hours. 10 meter and 12 meter gray line DX has been great lately ! Vertical is great for that ! That is a odd antenna. it is unbalanced but requires a Balun . It is more like uneven antenna. The only time a 1/2 wave dipole needs a UNUN is if you end feed it. all others need Balun. 1:1 at center to help with common mode. 73

[@hughpatterson1480]

Great video Walt! Sorry that first contact was with "he who cannot be named." Every morning, noon, and night, I hear his CQ call and move on down the dial. Great antenna. I'm going to try this out. In my location, I have a variety of antennas I can use depending on the conditions. I am getting the QT80 but will continue to use the G90 for most of my DXing because the tuner makes it easy to put up an antenna and not have to do any additional trimming, etc. I've really been able to enjoy DXing thanks to your videos and your antenna designs. Thanks for making this hobby so much more enjoyable...73...Hugh...KN6KNB

[@jerryKB2GCG]

another great idea and great video. KB2GCG Jerry

[@ae1tpa92gwtom2]

Wow Walt, built a vertical dipole yesterday

[@gaptastic]

interesting antenna Walt, thanks for sharing!

[@georgebradshaw474]

Hi Walt, Such enthusiasm for this hobby! Thank you my friend, ‘73. (🙏 Mrs). AC3EA

[@COASTALWAVESWIRES]

Thank you George! That was a fun afternoon/evening

[@SigIntGuru]

Thanks, Walt. I've always been interested in the OCFD. Going vertical is something I never thought of. N4RVR

[@COASTALWAVESWIRES]

@@SigIntGuru thanks for watching! 73, Walt

[@DonDegidio]

Hi Walt, I've had many contacts with Michael KB9VBR and had him on three bands at one POTA, but did not log any of them since I have many of him in my log. Wishing Allison is having improved health. Both of you stay safe. 73 WJ3U

[@COASTALWAVESWIRES]

@@DonDegidio thank you so very much Don!

[@sirtango1]

I’m so conflicted watching these videos. I used to love to fish the OBX, from the upper end around Duck and Corolla all the way down to Hatteras Village, then hop the ferry over to Ocracoke Island. It’s good to be able to talk on the radio when the fish aren’t biting! 73!

[@COASTALWAVESWIRES]

That’s my favorite part of the world. I love the OBX

[@kenmartin1211]

Always a pleasure to watch your videos... Yes its Amazing or Scary what a Tuner will do ... Thanks 73 KC3ZDW

[@COASTALWAVESWIRES]

Thanks!!! 73, Walt

[@corsavic1]

Allways a love you vids Walt take care

[@MikeN2MAK]

Can't beat great views and a good antenna!

[@COASTALWAVESWIRES]

That was a perfect day!

[@ehsnils]

I have an off-center fed horizontal dipole that I designed to primarily match 40, 60 and 80m, but it does decently on 15 and 20m too. With some care it can do 160m since it has to be almost a 1/2 wavelength for the 160m, but the off center isn't ideal for that band - I have cooked a connector that way. (gold plated became blue) Overall experience with the off center is that it's not as "sharp" as a dedicated dipole it's multi-purpose so with a tuner most bands are usable. I have even had 6m QSOs on my antenna, but that has required very good conditions since that's 13 wavelengths in the antenna, so it would basically just cancel itself out. Then with a 1:4 balun I'm thinking of if a current balun would be a good idea. However the vertical alternative seems to be a pretty nice idea for the higher bands. And now I have some new ideas that I'd like to try out as well. The amount of time versus ideas is however somewhat constraining.

[@UDX-3030]

Another great Day Walt ! 😁

[@COASTALWAVESWIRES]

Thank you! That was fun!

[@genoa1979]

🎉 congrats go well ❤

[@davidlappen8727]

Another great video and build. I was happy to see the contacts with KB9VBR. I have one of his j-pole antennas. Have you built any 2m/70cm antennas? I’m getting involved in ARES and looking at different designs. It would be cool to have some in your upcoming book!

[@christophermarshall5765]

This is what amateur radio is all about, having fun and talking to the world.

[@jamescady723]

Does the antenna come with a salt-water coastline? 😉Just jokin'. Thanks...looking forward to your book.

[@Don-ev5ov]

Circular polarization is a result of bouncing a Ham band signal off of the ionosphere according to one leading Ham. The late Stan Gibilisco says it is chaotic polarization. Both however agree that a circularly polarized transmitting antenna with a circularly polarized receive antenna will help with receiving ionospheric propagation, and in any case, a circularly polarized receiving antenna with help with any signal bounced off the ionosphere. In this time of high solar activity, I haven’t found any videos or articles about using circularly polarized antennas except by Dave Castler. Have you ever experimented with circularly polarized antennas, and would making a duplicate antenna in this video (edit- and rotating it horizontally; the two dipoles would have to be both physically at 90 degrees and electrically phased at 90 degrees) and feeding it from the first on a quarter wave line make it circularly polarized?

[@WECB640]

He responded with "Kilo 4 Oscar 5 9". Giving him the benefit of doubt, I think he didn't get your full call Walt. I hear so much of this now and much of it comes from people who are contesters. The caller gives just the suffix to break in, and the contester replies with only the prefix of the DX'ers callsign. Both stations need to give their full call (as you clearly did). He was in error and took it further. You were polite and smart to not engage. Perhaps he has a "condition". Keep up the good work Walt. Keep calm and DX on. 73 OM.

[@COASTALWAVESWIRES]

If you’re talking about KC4TVZ that guy is a piece of work. I’ve had my moments with him in the past. I was trying to take the high road and just make a decent contact. Mistake on my part. Google his call, there’s a ton of history there. Basically a 7.200 type. I always confirm calls to get them in the log, what you see in my videos are just clips from the actual QSOs. 73 my friend!

[@WECB640]

@@COASTALWAVESWIRES Totally understood Walt. 👍 All the best.

[@rafaelgcpp]

@@COASTALWAVESWIRES It was so funny when I heard him contacting you. This guy once contacted me on 10m, and I couldn't understand a single word he said. Next he complains the frequency is his and his only, and another stream of blurbs. I thought: "man, either this guy has a really thick accent or the QSB is making this REALLY hard to understand", but now I see he is kind of wacky!

[@peskador]

​@rafaelgcpp search that callsign on KZbin and Google. Like Walt says, that guy is something else! A few years ago, my 11 year old son answered his CQ and this 28.425 beacon told him something like, "you're too weak, get an amplifier", then went right back to calling CQ. Beyond his stellar reputation, i believe he holds the distinction of being the only person to ever be excommunicated from 10-10!

[@largestache]

TVZ. The Georgia 10m beacon. 😅

[@w4mkh]

Which has worked best for you on 10m? This OCF dipole, a vertical dipole, a horizontal dipole or an inverted V dipole. Just wondering which has a better DX takeoff angle and which h has worked best for you.

[@mandytuning]

The orher day I had contact to brazil for the very first time, also was pu2tyd

[@patthesoundguy]

Yeah I cringe when I hear that TVZ guy with his pre-recorded CQ message. I do not bother with him after the first contact I had with him a while back. I really think I want to try an off center dipole like that, it looks like it's working well. I need something like that where I can set up in the truck where I don't need to go find a park, I can be in a parking lot waiting for the wife shopping or something 😉

[@jimp.7286]

What would happen if you took the smaller off-center portion and used it like an elevated radial? Would there be some directivity to be had? Just pondering out loud. Cheers.

[@COASTALWAVESWIRES]

Yes it would probably create a directional lobe. Cheers

[@jimp.7286]

@@COASTALWAVESWIRES 👍

[@KQ4JGS]

KC4TVZ hahahah...he must of missed his meds that day. 73.

[@scubasky]

What logging software does Walt use for his iPad? I’m looking for an iPad app that I can export to qrz

[@COASTALWAVESWIRES]

I just log to QRZ through the web browser on my iPad

[@scubasky]

@ thank you for replying I do the same lol! I’ll just stick with that! Have a good week sir!

[@PAULHAWKINS-hr6ct]

Walt will we be able to buy your book in the uk

[@COASTALWAVESWIRES]

@@PAULHAWKINS-hr6ct yes, through the ARRL

[@PAULHAWKINS-hr6ct]

What about the RSGB or AMAZON

[@COASTALWAVESWIRES]

@ I’m not sure, it will be an ARRL publication

[@larrybrewer7949]

Another GREAT video, Walt! I love that you still have so much enthusiasm after doing so many episodes. Finding, making, and using all the different wire antennas AND creating so much content is is great to watch and so educational for newer hams. Thanx for all you do for our hobby. de W1LEB

[@COASTALWAVESWIRES]

Thank you so much!!!!! 73, Walt

[@lonewolfe666]

I tried this with a 9:1 got 12 10 6 2 and 440 couldn't get 20 or 40...

[@chuckrann6282]

There was a character nicknamed “The Dog” back in the 80’s. I think he was WA4D. Drank too much coffee, or liquor. I think he’s a silent key. That KC4 guy is just plain weird. Probably a psychopathic narcissist. Spin the dial my friend. Life’s too short.

[@TURBOSMOOVE-n6r]

KB9VBR Cameo